Sam Boardman-Jacobs (1942 – January 2022) was a Yorkshire-born playwright, director, and scenographer who was raised in the Midlands and London. After living in Glamorgan, Wales for 25 years, he later resided in France and Spain. He also received a master's degree from Trinity Laban, and became a choreographer. Prior to his death, he commuted between France, Spain, and the UK.
Boardman-Jacobs, a former Reader in Theatre and Media Drama at the University of Glamorgan, is known for his research in Holocaust drama, Yiddish theatre, gay and lesbian theatre, Spanish playwright Federico García Lorca, and the Spanish Civil War,[1] which are all reflected in his plays. His work with Manchester Youth Theatre on Holocaust and Yiddish drama earned him acclaim, and in 2002, he received a grant from the European Association of Jewish Culture for his play Trying To Be, which explores Jewish identity in contemporary Britain.[2]
After completing an MA in Choreography at Laban in London, Boardman-Jacobs became the artistic director of Found Reality Dance Theatre in Cardiff, where he created choreographic dance theatre. His stage play Play Federico For Me tells the fictional story of Catalan actress Margarita Xirgu, who relies on the ghost of Federico García Lorca during her exile after the Spanish Civil War to help her in her political-artistic battle with Eva Perón over the first performance of Lorca's The House of Bernarda Alba. He also translated and adapted Lorca's El público, which was produced by the Found Reality Theatre Company in 2005. His 2007 radio play, The Sixth Column Has Better Legs, portrays the experiences of four chorus girls in Madrid during the city's siege.
Boardman-Jacobs' Passion for the Impossible tells the story of Violette Leduc and Jean Genet in wartime Paris, while Red Hot and Blue depicts singer Libby Holman's reflection on her life, including a murder trial, an affair with Montgomery Clift, and early Civil Rights campaigning during World War II, on the night before her suicide.
In 2003, Boardman-Jacobs taught at the Lemonia Disabled Writers' Residential Course, a project organized by Graeae Theatre Company, Writernet, and Tŷ Newydd.[3] His 2004 play, Embracing Barbarians, based on the political and sexual fantasies of dying Greek poet Constantine Cavafy, featured a deaf performer in the role of a hearing character in an effort to make the piece accessible to both deaf and hearing performers and audiences.[4]
Boardman-Jacobs taught Writing Mentoring and Dramaturgy courses at various venues, including The Soho Theatre, The Actor's Centre in London, the Arvon Foundation, and Ty Newydd in North Wales, as well as on MA in Scriptwriting courses in Cardiff and Exeter. In France and the UK, he taught Master classes in Scriptwriting and Dramaturgy. He was also a scriptwriter for 12 years on BBC Radio 4's The Archers and a writer for Channel 4's Brookside. Additionally, he translated from Spanish to English.
With Found Reality Dance Theatre: